Questions using a pump & plate chiller

I recently picked up a chugger pump & a dudadiesel 30 long plate chiller & have yet to use them .
What concerns should I have for about trub & hop particles entering my plate chiller ?

I do have a hop spider with paint strainer bags or I could use hop bags , I have been looking at the diy hop taco .

What works for you folks ?

I haven't got that far yet but from what I understand if you use hop bag, have a side pick up tube and whirlpool when you recirculate then you shouldn't have too many problems. But would be good to know if there is any other advice. A false bottom or a screen over the pick up tube would be additional protection I guess but I understand you can get clogging/blocking of the screen if you do that.

I have the Dudadiesel 30 plate chiller and use a March pump. I'll tell you my setup and let you know that I've never had any problem at all, either with clogging or infections. I do not have a hopstopper on my keg but I wrap a copper pot scrubber around my pickup tube and keep it taught around it with a thick copper wire. I pump right into my plate chiller and have never had a problem. If you didn't have the pot scrubber though I bet you'd have a problem. I suspect that the hopstopper would work well too though. The only thing I would be slightly concerned about without the scrubber is any hot-break clogging up the chiller. After I've drained my keggle I run hot water through the chiller, then I pump a hot oxyclean solution through the chiller and reverse the connections so I'm running the solution through the chiller both ways. I let this sit for 5-10 minutes while I clean other stuff and then come back and run clean warm water through the chiller to rinse out all the oxyclean. I end with a run of StarSan through the chiller and then rinse that out with water. I see tiny little chunks of stuff come out sometimes so I'm always glad I went through this routine. With a chiller you really have to be thorough with your cleaning and sanitization because they are harder to clean and many little nooks and crannies for gunk to get trapped in.

Good luck!

i have a plate chiller from duda and a pump.. i use my homemade hop spider, and i also have a ss braid on my pickup tube in my BK.. its set just off to the side of the center and about a half inch up from the bottom.. i've never had any problem with any particles getting into the chiller.. i backflush it with idophor after each use as well.. i recirc for 5-10 min for sanitizing, though never enough to form a whirlpool needed for those purposes

I use the hop/trub filter from brewershardware.com. I added it at the same time I added my dudadiesel plate chiller, so I've never used my chiller without it. It's located between the pump and chiller and so far has done a great job of filtering hop material without clogging.

Well , I ran the pump & chiller today for the 1st brew session & I used the ol' DIY hop spider & it worked like a charm !
The chill plate works fantastic , went from boil keg to fermenters in one pass on a 12 gallon batch , from boil kettle @ 212* in the fermenter was 74* , absolutley loved it !

Do you need a pump to use the 30 plate chiller? If so, are there any plate chillers that don't require a pump? I was about to buy one at my LHBS until the owner told me I may need to purchase one.

You just need to have your boil kettle high enough that you can have the chiller completely below the boil kettle, and the fermenter completely below the chiller.

Thirstin4aburstin said:

Do you need a pump to use the 30 plate chiller? If so, are there any plate chillers that don't require a pump? I was about to buy one at my LHBS until the owner told me I may need to purchase one.

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I've read some folks claiming they can gravity feed their plate chillers, but I imagine cleaning a plate chiller without a pump isn't very easy...

Cheers!

I am trying to figure out how to plumb my plate chiller and pump. I am using camlocks, but I see that most pump/plate chiller people hard plumb the chiller and pump together. I guess then that you guys clean in place? Per the directions with my chiller you want to run it on its side, and store it on its end so that any residual water drains out. How do you guys get all the water out if you have it hard plumbed? I want to design it for easy cleaning and storage. Thanks

Plate chiller plumbing: